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Churhee's Riflemen
Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Galaxy at War See also: GaW Military Units More than a mercenary force, Churhee's Riflemen is a tight-knit band of sharpshooters with high standards of membership- and zero tolerance for those who don't appreciate the purity of ranged combat. Formed in the decade following the end of the Clone Wars, Churhee's Riflemen took advantage of the Empire's stranglehold over military operations at the sector and system level. With many planetary defense forces either disbanded or nationalized, the need for independent contractors was stronger than ever. Vlaydm Churhee drew upon his heritage as a sharpshooter in the Army of the First Line on Ulda Frav to form a squad of for-hire soldiers. Churhee's Riflemen advertised its talents throughout the Outer Rim's Sarin and Parmel Sectors, first serving as a unit within larger mercenary armies, then accepting solo jobs as its reputation grew. Soon, Churhee's Riflemen was regularly engaged in rear-guard harassment of enemy lines, scouting troop movements, and assassinating opposing commanders from long-range cover. Churhee's Riflemen accepted any assignments regardless of ideology, sometimes even switching allegiances in the middle of a battle. That changed after a debacle in the Y'Trella System. While on a job for The Galactic Empire, the group found itself pinned down by the enemy and abandoned by the Imperial forces that had promised to provide backup. Almost all the Riflemen perished, and their founder, Vlaydm Churhee, was among the dead. The survivors regrouped on Turcan III under the leadership of Vlaydm's widow, Maydla Churhee. They agreed to rebuild the unit, but this time as a fiercely anti-Imperial organization. Churhee's Riflemen still accepted jobs from sector crime lords and neutral parties, but it poured the profits into beefing up intel on the Parmel Sector's Moff Tallis. This intel allowed them to solicit specialty work from local cells of The Rebel Alliance. The Riflemen became such an irritant to the Empire that Moff Tallis eventually flattened Turcan III with a full-scale military assault. More than half the Riflemen died while fighting a rear-guard delaying action, but the remainder escaped offworld thanks to an airlift organized by the Alliance. The Battle of Turcan III cemented the members of Churhee's Riflemen as heroes of the Rebellion and brought the group galaxywide fame. The Rebel Alliance (And later The New Republic) kept the Riflemen busy with lucrative, exclusive assignments, in part so that they could exploit the propaganda value of having the Riflemen among their ranks. After The New Republic captured Coruscant, Churhee's Riflemen no longer felt comfortable working for those in the seat of galactic power. The group returned to Turcan III, but this time with the clout and freedom to be picky about the mercenary jobs it selected. Churhee's Riflemen continues to take work from free-market gangsters, but it has a hatred for despots of all stripes. Methods The members of Churhee's Riflemen fill a role halfway between scouts and light infantry. Too small in number and too lightly armored for front-line combat, the members of the Riflemen strike the enemy from the rear or from flanking positions, blasting away with quick, damaging fusillades and then retreating. Churhee's Riflemen keeps its gear and weaponry to a minimum for mobility, and its members seldom employ Vehicles larger than Speeder Bikes. The group's signature weapon is the SoroSuub Kylan-15 Blaster Rifle, customized by Vlaydm Churhee to include a Retractable Stock, a Targeting Scope (Advanced Low-Light), and a Silencer. Marksmanship is a point of pride in the ranks, and Churhee's Riflemen encourages the rumor that its members can shoot the tongue off of a dripdrinker larva from 1,000 meters. The Riflemen's members are fond of Droids and use ASP Labor Droids for maintenance, GHT Medevac Droids to retrieve wounded soldiers, and repulsor-equipped R2-Series Astromech Droids to map battlefields. The biggest dangers to the Riflemen's fighters are small skirmish units specifically tasked with eliminating threats like theirs. The ability to hit a target from long range is critical to the success of the Riflemen. Sniping is a core tactic, used from deep cover to take down enemy commanders with head shots or to detonate the lead Vehicle in an armored column with a precise hit on its fuel canister. The Riflemen often splits its ranks, with one or two squads sniping from long range and the remainder of the company springing an ambush from near cover. Such attacks are usually over in minutes, ending either when the group withdraws on Speeder Bikes or the enemy formation has been annihilated. Although it often works alongside other Military Units, Churhee's Riflemen is equipped to operate on its own. Its members are experts at survival and camouflage in forest, mountain, and savanna settings, which correspond to the planets where Churhee's Riflemen primarily operates and trains: Turcan III, Vohai, and Parein II. Missions Churhee's Riflemen is a mercenary group, but it accepts only jobs that exploit its expertise in sniping, ambush, and combat scouting. Rarely is the group hired to perform a mission without backup. The members of the Riflemen are not commandos, and the group lacks the diverse range of talents needed to tackle infiltration or demolition. Instead, Churhee's Riflemen is an ideal complement to a planetary defense force or a motley mercenary army. On scouting missions, the group's members execute quick reconnaissance on Speeder Bikes and report back concerning the enemy's strength and movements. Because of their skill, Churhee's Riflemen is allowed to engage at will, taking out opposing scout patrols or dealing damage to targets of opportunity. All members of the group are exper snipers. Sniping and ambushing often happen simultaneously, as some shooters fire with surprise from close range while snipers pick off targets from afar. Snipers also provide support for full-scale army engagements, in which they can be found firing from fortifications or hovering gunships. During its early years, Churhee's Riflemen regularly accepted missions from Imperial forces in the Parmel and Sarin Sectors. It operated in the place of dedicated Scout Trooper patrols, pathfinding for AT-ATs and heavy armor. Its targets included Sarin smugglers and pirates, as well as suspected Rebel cells embedded in the megalopolises of Revkinn V. The massacre in the Y'Trella System caused the Riflemen to accept anti-Imperial contracts exclusively. Missions during this era relied heavily on the group's inside knowledge of Imperial operations and tactics, although wary Rebels initially didn't put much stock in the Riflemen's sudden change of heart. Churhee's Riflemen aided Rebels and independent interests in rolling back the territorial gains of Moff Tallis planet by planet, sometimes chasing Imperial forces into the heart of a garrison and forcing the surrender of the base commander. In the post-Endor era, Churhee's Riflemen continued to fight Imperial holdouts, this time backed up by the full might of The New Republic. Its most celebrated public exposure came during the Ryoone Campaign, when the Riflemen matched wits with the Empire's Lightning Squadron in a month-long string of engagements. Rank Structure Since the unit's inception, Churhee's Riflemen has patterned itself after the makeup of a traditional Imperial scout company. Its roster consists of approximately 240 individuals (Plus various support personnel) organized into eight platoons. Vlaydm Churhee (And later Maydla Churhee) serves as the unit's commanding officer. A platoon is made up of approximately 30 sharpshooters, organized into lances of five (Including a Sergeant) or squadrons of 10 (Commanded by a Lieutenant). Multiple squads often are led by a Sergeant Major. New members of Churhee's Riflemen receive the initiate rank of Frontiersman, but only after passing a tracking, stealth, and sharpshooting program. Applicants typically come from other militias or mercenary bands with years of experience under their belts, but the Riflemen's program is so rigorous that only one out of every 20 applicants is accepted. Churhee's Riflemen are very welcoming toward non-Humans, often disproportionately employing members of Species such as the Lafrarians and the Ri'Dars that have superior distance vision. Although their profile was raised to a galactic scale following the Battle of Endor, Churhee's Riflemen is largely a fringe player most comfortable operating in The Outer Rim and the partially explored borders of Wild Space. Its members are well paid, but most have few indulgences beyond caring for their Kylan-15 Blaster Rifles and enjoying an occasional glass of Forvish Ale.